Government
is to be feared because it has the power to enforce its will on its
citizens. It has guns. It has jails. It has money. The average citizen
lacks all of these, making it difficult to fight back. The ballot
box and the court of public opinion are about our only weapons. Yet,
government has grown so large, so distant from the voters, that it
frankly fears little from either.

So
what is left for the defense of our rights and our property? A principled
leader is a grand ideal. Such a leader in a position of influence
who actually believes in right and wrong rarely happens. When it does,
there is no more powerful force on earth.

The
free market, given a chance, is a potent force; a place where consumers
control policy and products with their dollars. No need for government
intervention. Bad products or policies fail; good ones flourish. Yet,
a principled leader in the free market has become almost unheard of
in our modern world where government seems to be the answer to almost
every question.

When
was the last time your heard a corporate executive talk about his
company�s policies from a philosophical position? When did you last
hear one talk about individual rights? And when was the last time
your heard of a corporation announcing that it would turn down business
because a policy was �just plain wrong?� Miracles do happen.

And
so it is true with a bank called BB&T. BB&T Corporation based in North
Carolina, and the second largest bank in the Washington D.C. area,
announced that it will not lend money to developers who plan to build
commercial projects on land taken through the power of eminent domain.

The
Supreme Court shocked the nation last Fall by issuing a ruling that
upheld local government�s right to use eminent domain powers to evict
homeowners and demolish their houses for community development. The
practice, necessary to implement the ugly policy of Sustainable Development,
has created an unholy alliance between local officials and wealthy,
politically-connected developers. Now they are free to build projects
that promise to pad the pockets of politicians and government coffers,
while enriching the developers. The property owners be damned.

The
decision opened the way for local officials to move at full speed
on projects in communities across the nation. The National Conference
of Mayors has led opposition to legislation in Congress that would
halt federal dollars to fund such projects, arguing that the legislation
would diminish government power to control community development.

And
there is danger in just trusting government to solve the eminent domain
land grabs with legislation. Many times the special interests and
their shark-trained lawyers know exactly what words to remove from
legislation to render it worthless. Yet the politicians take the gutted
legislation and tout it as landmark property rights protection. It
happens all the time. It recently happened in Alabama to legislation
particularly aimed at correcting the horrible wrong of the Supreme
Court decision in the Kelo case.

As
property owners are brushed aside, helplessly watching their homes
being bulldozed to the ground, BB&T takes a refreshingly different
view of the scene. Rather than progress, the bank sees their customers
being crushed under the power of an out of control government which
is ignoring the voters who put them in their positions of public trust.
Said BB&T CEO, John Allison, �The idea that a citizen�s property can
be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided;
in fact, it�s just plain wrong.� The bank felt �obligated� to take
a stand by refusing to lend money to any developer who acquired his
land through the use of eminent domain.

By
standing for principle and doing what is right, BB& T has a chance
to influence others in the banking industry to follow suit. And that
is a force of power government fears most. It�s proof that the free
market, when left alone, works.

Money
drives everything. Cut it off and even the most powerful forces dry
up and blow away. Money is the reason why property owners fear the
government land grabbers. It�s the message behind the old saying,
�You can�t fight city hall.� Why? Because you don�t have the money
to fight it. Government can pass a law and the average American is
helpless to fight back. But even government needs the money to enforce
its schemes.

BB&T
just started a small snowball rolling down the hill that could liberate
millions from the threat of losing their homes to eminent domain.
As the nation is ravaged by Sustainable Development and its eminent
domain ponzi scheme, BB&T�s answer is so simple. Just don�t do it.
Serve your customers. It�s the perfect free market solution. Property
rights advocates everywhere need to converge on their own local banks
to spread the word of the BB&T revolution. Give praise for those who
follow, and picket lines for those who don�t.

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Update:
Montgomery Bank, which has six branches in St. Louis and five branches
in Southeast Missouri, announced late last week that �it will not
lend money for projects in which local governments use eminent domain
to take private property for use by private developments.�

Meanwhile,
patriots should pause in their embattled trenches just long enough
to open their arms to welcome BB&T, and now Montgomery Bank, as the
new recruits in the camp of Freedom�s Heroes.

Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese
Report and president of the American Policy Center, an activist, grassroots
think tank headquartered in Warrenton, VA. The Center maintains an Internet
site at www.americanpolicy.org.